1. Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a door, which opens and closes a main body of a washing machine, and an assembling structure and assembling method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, washing machines are apparatuses, which remove dirt or contaminants from laundry through chemical decomposition and mechanical impact. Among these washing machines, a drum washing machine has an increased washing capacity as well as a reduced total height and scarcely generates problems, such as the entanglement of laundry, compared with a pulsator washing machine, in which an inner tub, i.e., a drum, is rotated while facing upward, thus being increasingly in great demand.
In such a drum washing machine, an opening, through which the laundry is put into the washing machine, is formed through the front surface of the main body, and a door to open and close the opening is rotatably installed at one side of the front surface of the main body.
The door includes a front panel and a rear panel forming the external appearance of the door, a door handle disposed between the front panel and the rear panel to allow a user to grip the door handle, and a door opening and closing device to open and close the door in connection with the operation of the door handle.
In the washing machine, when the user applies pressure to the door handle, the door opening and closing device is operated in connection with the door handle due to the application of pressure, and when the pressure applied to the door handle is released, the door handle and the door opening and closing device are returned to their original states.
In order to return the door handle and the door opening and closing device to their original states when the pressure applied to the door handle is released, as described above, the door opening and closing device includes an elastic member.
In a conventional assembling method of a door of a washing machine, the door is assembled by fixing one side of an elastic member to a door handle and fixing the other side of the elastic member to the rear surface of a front panel by pressure when the front panel is assembled with a rear panel.
However, the above conventional assembling method may cause mis-assembly between the elastic member and the front panel when the door is assembled, and when the elastic member and the front panel are mis-assembled, the door handle may move.
Further, an assembly time required to accurately assemble the front panel and the elastic member is increased, and thereby productivity of the washing machine is lowered and price competitiveness of the washing machine is deteriorated.